NEW YORK NEWS
March 28, 2013
Contact: Public Information Officer
Number: 212-337-2906
Gramercy Medical Center Pumped More Than $10 Million in Narcotic Pills onto Interstate Black Market
Physician and office manager among 49 arrested in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania: 30 guns seized
MARCH 28 (MANHATTAN, N.Y.)  Brian R. Crowell, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, Bridget G. Brennan, New York City's Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Raymond W. Kelly New York City Police Commissioner, James T. Hayes, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York Field Office, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H., announced today the indictment and arrest of Dr. Hector Castro, an internal medicine practitioner, and his office manager Patricia Valera in connection with widespread illegal trafficking in oxycodone, a highly addictive narcotic painkiller, in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Another 47 individuals were arrested this week, including the leaders of two major drug trafficking networks in Pennsylvania, as a result of a long-term investigation dubbed "Operation Cuba Libre." Agents and officers seized 30 guns in a series of court authorized searches, including two in New York and 28 in Pennsylvania.